Heating apparatus and system



Nov. 28, 1961 c, R. FREEMAN HEATING APPARATUS AND SYSTEM Filed May 6, 1959 A/a AA //7 INVENTOR. CARL. R. FREEMAN BY United States Patent 3,010,380 HEATING APPARATUS AND SYSTEM Carl R. Freeman, 1237 W. 47th St., Chicago, Ill. Filed May 6, 1959, Ser. No. 811,420 8 Claims. (Cl. 98-40) This invention relates in general to heating apparatus, and, more particularly, to improvements in heating apparatus of the forced air type.

In many homes, auditoriums, school buildings and the like it has become a wide-spread practice to install forced hot air heating systems since heating systems of this type provide excellent circulation of warm air through the space being heated as well as continuous changes of air in suchspace. Usually in large rooms the warm air is delivered through large ducts which discharge the hot air at a number of spaced points within the room in order that a reasonably constant temperature can be maintained throughout the entire room. However, in these large rooms it has been found that it is diflicult to maintain relatively uniform temperature from the floor to the ceiling of the-room even though the hot air registers are located at floor level and a number of such registers are placed throughout the room. The warm air, of course, will rise rapidly from the registers and pass towards the ceiling but often a layer or strata of cold air. is present at the floor level. This condition is objectionable particularly-if it is present in school rooms which are used by young children.

It is, therefore, one of the objects of the present invention to provide a heating apparatus which embodies a novel duct for delivering hot air to rooms while at the same time permitting eflicient blending of the hot air with the cold air in the room as well as promoting an induced flow of cold air away from the floor of the room.

It is a further more specific object of the present invention to provide a heating apparatus of the type stated in which the duct is mounted along one wall of the room and is provided with a longitudinally extending discharge passageway at its lower back side, the discharge passageway opening into the space between the duct and the wall surface'so that hot air discharged from the duct will induce a 'flow of cold air upwardly from the floor and blend therewith prior to circulation through the room, thereby reducing cold air stratification at the room floor.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a heating apparatus of the type stated in which the duct is of relatively simple construction and is easily mounted in place along the wall of the room.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a heating apparatus of the type stated in which the size of the discharge passageway is readily adjusted so as to control the flow of hot air delivered to the room.

The attainment of the above and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming apart thereof. 7

FIG. 1 is a horizontal sectional view of a room and showing a top plan view, partly in section, of a heating apparatus constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing the corner portion of the duct shown in FIG. 2.

Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to the drawing which illustrates a practical embodiment of the present invention, 1 designates a duct formed of sheet metal and comprising a front wall 2 bent at its 3,010,380 Patented Nov. 28, 1961 upper end to form an inclined front panel 3 which terminates at its upper end in a relatively narrow top Wall 4. Secured to the top wall 4 by means of sheet metal screws 5 is a vertical back wall 6 which is integrally provided at its lower end with an inwardly extending channel portion 7.

The duct 1 is also provided with a bottom wall 8 which is located in downwardly spaced relationship to the channel portion 7, and at its rear edge the back wall 6 is bent in the provision of an upwardly extending flange 10 which is located in downwardly spaced relation to the channel portion 7. The flange 10 may also include an angularly inclined end 11 which extends upwardly and away from the back wall 6. The space betweenthe flange 10 and back wall 6 defines a discharge passageway 12 which extends substantially throughout the length of the duct 1. Extending through the flange 10 and back wall 6 at spaced intervals along the length of the duct 1 are bolt and nut assemblies 13- which are held rigidly in place by the resiliency of the sheet metal of the duct. By adjusting the bolt and nut assemblies 13 the size of the discharge passageway 12 can be varied in accordance with the desired flow of hot air into the room.

Bolted or otherwise rigidly secured to the back wall 6 at spaced intervals therealong is a series of vertical mounting channels 14 which are in turn rigidly secured to a perforated sheet metal insulation covering 15. The insulation covering 15 is bolted to one wall 16 of the room and encloses a suitable insulating material 17, the insulation covering 15 preferably being approximately coextensive in length and height with the duct 1. Furthermore, the covering 15 is located downwardly from a window 18 and upwardly a short distance from the room floor 19. As seen by reference to FIG. 1 one end of the duct 1 is closed off by a room wall 20 and is supported thereon by means of a suitable bracket 21. At its other end the duct 1 is open and is suitably connected to a supply duct 22, the latter, in turn, being connected to the furnace blower (not shown).

When hot air is delivered from the supply duct 22 to the duct 1, the hot air will pass through the discharge opening 12 upwardly through the space 23 defined by the back wall 6 and vertical surface 24 of the insulation covering 15, as shown by the arrows a in FIG. 4. This hot air rises rapidly through the space 23 and forms a draft across substantially the entire Wall 16 of the room. The draft so created will, therefore, tend to induce a flow of cold air upwardly from the floor of the room, as indicated by the arrows b in FIG. 4. The cold air blends with the heated air discharge from the duct 1, whereupon the blended air circulates through the room. Consequently, there is little tendency for the cold air to become stratified at the floor level since it is continuously being drawn upwardly through the space 23 and blended with the hot air discharge from the duct 1.

While the channels 14 are illustrated as being mounted on the insulation covering 15 it will be apparent that the channels 14 may be mounted directly upon the wall 16, particularly if the wall is adequately insulated against heat losses. Furthermore, the distance between the back wall 6 and insulating covering 15 is relatively small so as to insure an adequate pressure differential from the bottom to the top of the draft space 23.

In compliance with the requirements of the patent statutes I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention. It is, however, to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction herein shown, the same being merely illustrative of the principles of the invention. What is considered new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A duct for delivering heated air from a hot air source to a space to be heated, said duct comprising a tubelike body of sheet material having overlapping portions ad jacent the lower side thereof, said portions extending subsource toa space to be heated, said duct comprising an elongated tube-like body of sheet material having portions adjacent the lower side thereof which extend substantially throughout the length of said body, said portions forming an upwardly opening passageway for providing communication between the interior of the duct and the space to be heated, means for varying the size of said passageway and thereby regulate the flow of heated air discharged from the duct, and means for supporting the duct in spaced relation to awall surface and upwardly from an adjacent floor surface in the space to be heated to cause the passageway to be in communication with the Space between the wall surface and duct. 7 V

3. Heating apparatus comprising a duct having an elongated hollow body of sheet material provided with a back wall, said body having a discharge passageway at the lower end of the back wall and extending substantially 7 throughout the length of said body, means for varying the size of said discharge passageway, and means for mounting the body on a vertical surface of a room to be heated, adjacent to but upwardly from the floor of the room, the mounting means also mounting the body in spaced relation to said surface with the back wall presented toward said surface and'the passageway opening up wardly into the space between the back wall and surface, said space being open at its upper and lower ends to the interior of the room so that as hot air is discharged from the duct body into the space, the hot air will pass into the room and at the same time will induce a flow of cold air from the region of the floor through the space.

4. Heating apparatus comprising a duct having an elongated hollow body of sheet material provided with a back wall and a bottom wall, the bottom wall terminating in a flange overlapping and lying outwardly of the back wall, the flange extending substantially throughout the entire length ofsaid back wall, the space between the flange and back wall constituting a discharge passageway, means for varying the spacing between the flange and back wall, and means for mounting the body adjacent to a vertical surface of a room to be heated, adjacent to but upwardly fromthe floor of the room, the mounting'means also mounting the body in spaced relation to said surface with the back wall presented toward said surface and the passageway opening upwardly into the space between the back wall and surface, said space being open at its upper 4 a gated hollow body of sheet materialprovided with a back wall, said body having a discharge passageway at the lower end of the back wall and extending substantially through out the length of said body, means for varying the size of said discharge passageway, and means for mounting the body within the room to be heated so that the body is upwardly from the room floor and the back wall extends along one'vertical surface of the room, the back wall also being presented toward said surface in spaced relation thereto with the discharge passageway opening into the space between the back wall and surface, said space being open at its upper end to the interior of the room and opening at its lower end towards the. floor of the room so that as hot air is discharged from the duct body into the space, the hot air will pass upwardly into the room and at the same time will draw cold air upwardly through the space from the lower end thereof. 1

- 6. Heating apparatus comprising a duct having an elongated hollow body of sheet material provided with a back wall, the body having a discharge'passageway at its lower end and extendingsubstantially throughout the length of said body, means for varying the size'ofv said discharge passageway, means for mountingthe body within the room to be heated so that the body is upwardly from the room floor and the back wall extends along one vertical surface of the room presented toward and in spaced relation thereto with the discharge passageway opening into the space between the back wall and surface, one transverse end of said body being closed, means at the other transverse end of the body for delivering heated air ,to the interior of the body, the space between the body and surface opening at its upper end to the interior of the room and opening at its lower end towards the floor of the room so that as hot air is discharged from the duct body into the space, the hot air will pass upwardly into the-room and at the same time will draw cold air drawn upwardly through the space from the lower end thereof.

7. Heating apparatus comprising a duct of sheet material for delivering heated air from a hot air source to a room to be heated, said duct having portions adjacent to the lower end of the back side thereof which form a passageway providing communication between the interior of the duct and'the room to be heated, means for mounting the duct in the room upwardly from the floor, the mounting means also mounting the back side of the duct spaced from and presented toward an adjacent wall of the room with the passageway opening into the space between said back side and room wall, said space being open at its upper and lower ends to the interior of the room so that as hot air is discharged from the duct through the passageway into said space, the hot air will pass into the room and at the same time will induce a W of cold air from the region of the floor through the space.

8. Heating apparatus according to claim 7 having means for varying the size of said discharge passageway.

' References Cited in the'file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 587,373 Parker et al. -Aug. 3, 1897 2,027,097 Hanson Jan. 7, 1936 2,616,188 Steinfeld Nov; 4, 1952 2,780,979 DeRoo Feb. 12,1957 

